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While the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona, and the Nuerburgring are grueling enough to make race cars bleed and race drivers crumble, imagine what an 84-hour enduro would be like. That was the premise behind the Marathon de la Route, which was run at Germany’s famous ‘Ring. After decades of ear-piercing RX7 racers and Spec Miata fields of up to 75 cars, it’s too often forgotten that Mazda‘s racing history began with a tuned-up version of the Cosmo Sport, the swoopy little rotary-powered coupe that was produced from 1967 to 1972. Mazda supported this modified Cosmo in the 1968 running of the Marathon, and it finished an amazing fourth place overall. Twenty-three years later, another Mazda — this one a bit bigger and a lot faster — achieved the overall victory at Le Mans, and it’s the only Japanese entry to date to do so. Although, considering the length of the Marathon, the scant 24-hour contest in France should have been no biggie.

Coverage July 1964Although the crossover/utility vehicle seems to be such a new concept, it isn’t really. Packaging aside, the crossover/ute is not so different from the midsize station wagons that were so popular in the 1960s. In the July 1964 issue, we tested 10 of them, loaded and unloaded. Of course, we included complete specs. Another story begged the question: “Overhead Camshafts — Are They Practical?” As with the crossover, that’s another idea whose time has truly arrived.